You will have no competition, ever, from anybody. This must derive back to Nonpareil Road.

Steve,

Thank you for recognising my hard-won (rising from the dead, as it were, here in extra innings) symmetries. Almost fearful, they are. The fried egg seemed like a kind of... what do they call those? Capstone?

present is what is and whatgoes toward, possible

Yes, quite. And ay, there's the rub.

A bit of thunder and lightning here today, to enhance our sense of the imminent giving of thanks by reminding us that Climate Change is the poison surprise inside the big civilisational crackerjack box.

Hazen,

Well, I suppose we are revealing our age here, nakedly as it were. But at our age, nobody cares if we are naked anyway.

(It's been pointed out to me that well-paid medical personnel are unable to look at the "graphic" photos of my naked post-accident/post-surgery head. After all, they're not paid for that... remind me again what they are paid for?)

I do envy you that little ™ keyboard widget. I want one of those for Christmas. Or wait, wasn't Christmas last week?

Now that banking, like most dishonest activities, is done largely by machines, perhaps the idea of JB performing this song in a bank will seem outlandish. But now as we are driven over the edge of the fearfully symmetrical "fiscal cliff" by those good ol' never-say-die Republican "leaders", what mythic heroes are left to us?

Thanks, Tom. I will take that as a...compliment...! At least nobody is scared to look at my head except for students who fear I have could have eyes in the back, there, somewhere under my teacherly barrette that is "gay" and "retarded."

Tom, If you use Mac OS, it’s under System Preferences/Hardware/Keyboard. Select Keyboard at top of window, then check the box that says Show Keyboard & Character Viewer in Menu Bar. The icon should show up next to the sound/speaker icon in the menu bar. It has an asterisk in it. Click on that and then select Show Keyboard Viewer. When the virtual keyboard drops down, press the option key (alt key) on your real keyboard to bring up all the symbols. Then click on that symbol you want to type it into the text.

If you don’t use Mac, I’m no help.

I’ll swap you this info for how to do italics in a comment to your post.

Well, all I can say is, better a gay barrette than a solid wall of caked escar. (An EDS house specialty.)

Nin,

Yes, you've read my mind, that's exactly what I asked myself when I heard in the chill dark before dawn the sound bytes of Boehner and McConnell vowing not to give up until they have finished the great work of burying this once proud nation in confusion, vindictiveness, mine tailings and good ol' country cowflop.

Is here such an instrument as an electrified pitchfork?

Let's ask Hazen!

Hazen,

Many thanks. I'll have to confess however that if the rightful owner of this Mac were to catch me attempting to perform any of the simple, basic operations which you have so kindly and clearly explained, I'd undoubtedly manage to screw something up, leaving a clear trail of evidence (attempting to fib one's way out of such screwups always compounds the offense, naturally), and my thumbs would then soon be in the wastebasket, alongside those of Struwelpeter.

The italics in comments thing is evidently simple enough, I see it done all the time, and am sure the operation is clearly spelled out somewhere and considered a fundamental part of the skill set of everyone under a certain age -- but... see above.

However I DO know how to copy & paste (duh), so I will henceforth count on you, brave comrade, to break the novelty tech widget ground, and I will follow along, stealing your tricks, old dog/new dog style... dawg.

Sorry about that. Didn't mean to be mysterious. This is an improper (inappropriate I guess is the current word: see also, uncomfortable-making) subject for public broadcast. I should never have alluded to it. "Medical personnel" always pretend they are familiar with it. They never are. However, alas, I am, and indeed -- what's the word -- intimately. It is always with me now. I shall never again speak of it. (Too embarrassing.)